Everyone wants to stay young, but how do you do it? Here are 7 ways you can make yourself forget to age.
As the years pass, an interesting phenomenon occurs: You age on the outside, but forget to age on the inside.
If you are emotionally healthy, even as your body betrays you, your personality remains young. The outside may reflect aging, but the inside, where your heart and soul dwell, does not.
The person inside is still you. You haven’t changed your sense of self. You still expect the same things of yourself.
Whenever we begin to believe that we are old, that’s when we begin to feel old. Although the physical limitations may catch up to you earlier, as long as you feel young, you are still young.
How to stay young
Stay active. As the saying goes, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
For starters, avoid sitting in front of the TV all day. By doing this, your body will get stiff and you’re likely to lose your motivation to get up and do things.
Even if you are a wheelchair user and you aren’t mobile enough to actually get up, you can still keep an active lifestyle. Get outside and enjoy the fresh air, take up wheelchair gardening or get busy with projects that will occupy your mind and leave you feeling accomplished.
This brings us to the next tip–
Have a purpose. At every stage in life, it’s important to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. As we age and our responsibilities lessen, it’s easy to lose focus of this. Take on a new mission, start a project or develop a talent you’ve never had time for. Choose something that won’t use up more energy than you have to spare, but will leave you feeling useful, productive and even needed.
Be social. Speaking of friends, did you know that people who have an active family and social life have a longer life expectancy?
Get to know people. Say hello to everyone you meet – you never know who might be your next best friend! Making others feel important is a great way to get others to notice you and want to get to know you more.
Engage your mind. Studies show that it is crucial to keep you brain active as you age. Exercise your brain by playing cards or chess, doing puzzles or reading positive and inspiring literature. Learning a new instrument or skill is also a great idea, especially since research shows that the best way to maintain brain function is to learn something new.
Make yourself happy. Write up a list of ten things that make you happy. Whether it’s feeling the sun on your face, hearing a beautiful piece of music, hearing the laughter of children, watching the sunrise or anything else, try to do at least 3 things on your list each week. Even better, do it with a friend, because as Christopher McCandless said, “Happiness is only real when shared.”
Most importantly, remember to stay away from the stuff that make you age. Regular exercise, maintaining a healthy diet and avoiding or combating emotional stress go a long way to keeping you happy, healthy and, most importantly, young.
